Arrangement and a method relating to session management in a portal structure

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a portal structure providing end user stations ( 5 ) with access to services/applications ( 26 ), comprising a portal core ( 1 ) and a number of services/applications ( 26 ). The portal core comprises a presentation arrangement, portal session managing means (13) generating session related information, e.g. session identifications and portal storing means ( 51 ) for storing session related information. At least some of the services/applications ( 26 ) are external with external session identifications. Session unifying means ( 50 ) are provided for mapping between portal session identifications and external session identifications. For communication between the portal core ( 1 ) and external services/applications ( 26 ), the external identification is used, whereas, in communication between an end user station ( 5 ) and the portal core ( 1 ), only the portal session identification is used.

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present invention relates to session management and portal structures, particularly Internet portals, providing end user stations with access to services/applications. The invention also relates to an arrangement in a portal structure used for session management. The invention further relates to a method of session management in a portal structure for end users accessing services/applications via said portal structure.

[0002] The invention particularly relates to handling of session management when different entities, such as portals, services or application are managed by different session management means.

STATE OF THE ART

[0003] When referring to a portal is generally meant an Internet portal. Internet portals interacting with end users usually provide for session management in order to be able to track and keep control of the activities of the end users, and in order to store end user specific information, like authentication status, information, such as lists and order of initiated actions and resulting events etc. Today a portal often needs to be able to integrate functionality of other software systems or even other portals. However, sometimes such other systems, such as services/applications or other portals, have their own session management. This means that in one way or another session management as provided for by different session managing means needs to be integrated or combined.

[0004] There is also an increasing need to personalize or Customize the way an end user can access services irrespectively of the actual location of the services or applications, or who is the provider. Also the demand for access to mobile Internet services gains importance, i.e. that end users may want to be able to, in a rapid and uncomplicated manner, get access to services from any end user station, i.e. also from mobile devices; it may e.g. relate to sending and receiving e-mails, short messages, accessing web-based information from mobile as well as from fixed end user devices in a user-friendly, quick and simple manner. This is called the mobile Internet.

[0005] Browsing using a mobile device is however more difficult than browsing using a PC, since the mobile device, as compared to the PC, has limited input and output capabilities. Thus, this means that it gets even more difficult to provide mobile end users with a satisfactory personalization, and management of services as well as session management get even more complicated. Anyhow, there is an increasing demand on behalf of the end user to always be able to access applications and services. A portal is such a doorway to the content of services and applications which particularly should be tailored to suit the end user preferences.

[0006] Examples on portal content are information services (also including push content which relates to an Internet technique through which all information a user subscribes to automatically is provided to the user, or information that the service provider or operator means that the user should be provided with). Examples on information services are weather forecasts or weather information in general, commercial services such as shopping malls, or generally any kind of information, multimedia services such as streaming audio/video, games, instant messaging and newsgroups, web based mail, access to particular communities through chat-rooms. It is also desirable to be able to provide appealing graphical user interfaces for representing applications and menus on PC:s, and particularly also for WAP-enabled devices, in case a portal is mobile. Much effort is also put down on personalizing the structure and the content of personal portals, and to provide a possibility to control the interaction and behaviour of individual services and applications, by setting personal preferences. It is however difficult to provide for satisfactory access possibilities irrespectively of which kind of device that is used by an end user. Particularly when different systems need to be integrated, as far as session management issues are concerned, i.e. when the different systems (portals, services/applications, other portals etc.) have their own session management, the situation may get very complicated.

[0007] Until now many applications are in principle exclusively designed for the 2G telecommunications environment and they have been implemented as monolithical blocks or with a proprietary service network to handle the specific QoS requirements for the respective applications. This has a consequence that such applications work satisfactory as isolated applications, but they are difficult to integrate with other applications developed in similar ways. Applications developed for the Internet (Internet protocol) environment have to a large extent been based on established and open de facto standards supporting extensive integration of different applications. Many such standards have been used in the 2G environment for non real-time critical applications. However, through the introduction of 3G networks (3GPP), future applications will contain a mixture of telecommunication and datacommunication services, mixing higher and lower bit rates as well as real time and non-real time traffic. The service networks of today are not designed to handle such mixtures, nor are the existing IP-based applications designed for the specific characteristics concerning wireless networks. As can be seen there are many complicating factors concerning the provision of satisfactory access for end users to services, particularly when session management is handled by different session managers for different systems/entities.

[0008] Session management of homogeneous portal environments can be clearly specified and may for example be performed based on the servlet session API (Application Programming Interface) specification or the session EJB (Enterprise Java Beans) specification. These specifications define the basic operations for session management, namely to create/destruct a session and to get, set and remove a key-value pair in a constructed session.

[0009] Internet portals are usually provided with a session management system allowing tracking of the actions initiated by an end user. Such actions may for example include the actions end user entering the system, authentication of the end user, access by the end user to a portal service etc. As long as the end user navigates within the portal, i.e. requests access to services/applications internal to the portal, which here means services/applications for which session management is handled centrally within the portal, session management can be handled easily, since every portal service can ask a central session manager, i.e. the portal session managing means, to retrieve information stored in the session of the end user. The sessions are particularly stored in storing means. However, the situation is different if an end user requests access to an external system or to a service or an application integrated with the portal, or an external service/application, which here means a service/application having an external, or its own specific session management. The situation can then be very complicated. A serious problem is that, if a service or an application (or another portal), that an end user wants to access via a portal structure, has its own session management, the external session management may be incompatible to the portal session management. This is often the case when application service providers offer services to portal owners. For various reasons it may not be desirable to expose the external session management to the end user. Still further the sessions created taking into account also the external session management tend to get very long, i.e. the session identity that is used in communication with the end user has to contain not only the portal session identity, but in addition thereto also the external session identity. Often such lengthy session identifications can not be handled by the clients served by the portal. This is particularly serious if the end user station is a mobile device such as a WAP-device, which simply might not be able to handle such large amounts of data. Even for an end user station able to handle such amounts of data only for identification purposes, it involves a waste of resources and time.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0010] What is needed is therefore a portal structure through which session management can be handled in an easy and efficient manner, also when the session management of the accessed systems/services/applications is handled by other, different session managing systems. Particularly, when a portal structure has its own portal session managing means and another system, such as a service, an application or another portal, to which an end user requests access, has its own, here denoted external, or proprietary, session managing means, an easy and efficient session management is needed. Particularly a seamless unification of session management between portals and externally session-managed (external) systems is needed. A portal structure is also needed through which the session management existing in other systems, such as services/ applications or portals that are session-managed by third party session managing means, or external session managing means, can be combined and integrated with the portal session management.

[0011] An arrangement is also needed through which a portal (internal) session management and various session management methods of third party or external session managed systems can be unified into a unified session management. Particularly a portal structure is needed which is able to provide an end user with access to services/applications for which session management is handled by external session managing means (third party session managing means), i.e. not the same session managing means as the portal session managing means as well as to internal services/applications. An end user should thus be provided with access to services etc. irrespectively of whether the services/applications (content) are located within the portal structure itself, or whether the applications/services and the content thereof reside outside the portal, i.e. are provided by external providers and/or are session-managed by external session managing means.

[0012] Particularly a portal structure is needed which allows access by mobile end user stations (in addition to fixed end user stations) irrespectively of whether accessed services/applications etc. are internally or externally session-managed. A portal structure is also needed through which the number of parameters that have to be used in communication with end users is reduced as compared to for hitherto known structures, and irrespectively of whether accessed services/applications reside within the portal or not, and irrespectively of whether they are separately or externally session-managed. Particularly a portal structure is needed which is capable of integrating different session management methods at the same time as it integrates Internet and WAP-based services, so that access is enabled from any Internet connected PC, WAP-device or any other mobile device using any mobile access network.

[0013] An arrangement for handling and integrating session management in a portal structure is also needed through which one or more of the above mentioned objects can be fulfilled. Still further a method for handling session management in a portal structure is needed, as well as a method of providing an end user with access to services/applications, irrespectively of whether they are session-managed by the portal session managing means or by external session managing means, through which one or more of the above mentioned objects can be fulfilled.

[0014] By using a generic markup language in a portal, content of applications and services can be stored independently of user station or user device, and before showing the content of an application or a service, the content can be transformed into the format, i.e. the markup language, that can be understood by the end user device. One example on such a generic markup language is the XML (Extended Markup Language). As a standard for navigation in an XML-based portal is the XLink specification used, which allows elements to be inserted into XML documents in order to create and describe links between resources. XLink provides a framework for creating both basic unidirectional links and more complex linking structures. It allows XML documents to assert linking relationships among more than two resources, associate metadata with a link and to express links residing in a location separate from the linked resources. XML is described in W3C Recommendation, Oct. 6, 2000, Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0 (Second Edition), which herewith is incorporated herein by reference.

[0015] In the following some concepts used in this document will be described or defined. A portal is generally a non-physical entity in the Internet domain which can be described as an “electronic publishing space” which is owned by an individual or an organization, and which provides either direct access to information and services, or links to other entities in the Internet or private intranet domains, providing information and services to authorized end users. A portal is in its simplest form a regular home page or a list of links, whereas in more advanced forms it may offer interactive services, not only to those who consume what is published, but also to those who are granted the right by the editor to publish on the portal, as well as to the editor himself, regarding different aspects on how the portal is used.

[0016] Wireless end users are given access through a “service” portal. Such a “service” portal is different from a traditional fixed Internet portal for PCs, and end users demand personalized services delivered to, and presented on, their mobile terminal at least as an option. In the following will however not the terminology “service” portal be used, but a portal (structure) in this document means either a conventional portal or a “service” portal.

[0017] An application is one or several cooperating software entities, the functional focus being user interaction and usefulness for the end user. An application platform is a defined combination of software and hardware entities used to implement applications of a certain kind which are characterized by the functionality and quality of its constituent parts.

[0018] By portal infrastructure is, in general terms, meant the software and hardware entities needed to either host or produce or generate a specific portal. Specifically it contains a portal core, an IP infrastructure and service enablers.

[0019] A service enabling means, also called a service enabler is a support functionality accessed via APIs (Application Programming Interface) raising the abstraction level and simplifying the application developer's task. A portal core is the core of a portal infrastructure, i.e. a portal core is the central part of a portal structure that is needed to develop a portal framework within which content and applications can be disclosed and accessed by end users in a controlled and unified manner. By a service network is generally meant an IP-based network, which consists of nodes hosting application servers, service capability servers, application support servers, IP infrastructure servers etc. Application support servers interface with service network resources or other external resources than core networks, whereas service capability servers interface with resources and functionality in core networks.

[0020] In the present application a portal structure is intended to mean a portal core, a plurality of services and applications with their content and service enabling means (service enablers). Generally may also the connectivity and data bearer functionality be included. However, important for the functioning of the present invention are the components of the portal core. The problems to be solved are particularly present when accessed services/applications are session-managed by other means than the session managing means of the portal structure itself.

[0021] Therefore the invention provides a portal structure, providing end user stations with access to services/applications which comprises a portal core (and service enabling means, connectivity means via which end user access is provided). The portal core comprises a presentation arrangement, a portal session managing means generating and handling session related information, e.g. session identifications, and storing means for storing session related information. The portal core also includes subscriber managing means, not further described. At least some of the services/applications comprise external services/applications which are session-managed by external session managing means generating and handling external application/service session related information, e.g. external session identifications.

[0022] The portal session managing means comprises a session unifying arrangement for mapping or transforming between portal session identifications and external service/application session identification information. For communication between the portal core and external services/applications, the external service/application external (proprietary) session identifications are used, whereas for communication between an end user station and the portal core, only the portal session identifications are used. Particularly the services/applications generate a generic markup language which, even more particularly, may be the XML language.

[0023] In advantageous implementation external session identification information for all external services/applications active in a session is stored in the portal storing means, at least throughout the duration of the respective session, or throughout a predefined time period. A time period may e.g. be defined such that when there has been no activity in the session for the given time period, the information need not be stored any longer.

[0024] In a particular implementation the portal structure is mobile, which here means that it supports access by mobile end user stations, such as for example WAP-devices, in addition to fixed end user stations. The portal structure includes rendering means for translating service/application data in a generic markup language into a different markup language as used by, or understandable to, an end user station. If a generic markup language is used, particularly XML, data of services/applications is defined in a Document Type Definition (DTD) language with an URL attribute (Uniform Resource Locator). DTD. is (here) an XML-document describing all the elements and their attributes which are allowed in all the documents that can be seen as belonging to the particular DTD. In one implementation an external system (service/application) with its own, or external, session managing means, comprises another portal. In a particular implementation the portal session management operates according to the servlet session API or the session EJBs specifications for defining basic session management operations. This means that the specifications can be used to get a session from an externally session-managed system. In this specification it is also referred to as a backend system, which thus may be a service/application which is external, at least in the sense that it is externally session-managed. It may also be another portal with its own external, (proprietary) session managing means.

[0025] According to the invention the portal session managing means particularly stores information relating to end user initiated actions, such as end user entering the portal, end user authentication, end user access of a service/application etc. into the portal storing means.

[0026] According to the invention, when an end user station requests a service/application from the portal, a session with a portal session identification is created by the portal session managing means. The request is subsequently forwarded to the requested service/application which, if it is an internal service/application, uses the portal session identification. On the other hand, if the service/application is externally session-managed, an external session identification is generated for the end user, which is used in communication between the portal and the service/application. For an externally session-managed service/ application, the external session managing means stores the external session identification information generated for a requesting end user for a defined time period, e.g. throughout the session, or until the session has been “inactive” for a given time period.

[0027] When a subsequent call request is received from the portal, i.e. a subsequent call by the same end user in the same session for the same service/application, the generated external session identification is used to find the session in the service/application. Application data is generated and application information data is sent to the portal using the external session identification which, by the portal session unifying means, is converted into/mapped onto the portal session identification.

[0028] In one implementation a namespace is created within the portal session, and for each accessed external service/application session, information data is stored within the namespace. In a particularly advantageous embodiment an external service/application, or an external session managing means, creates an external (or proprietary) session with a service/application (proprietary) external session identification for an end user requesting access to the external service/application via the portal and introduces a metainformation tag, containing at least the proprietary or external session identification, into the data in the generic markup language, which is to be sent to the portal core. Particularly all data of the metainformation tag is stored in the corresponding portal session for the requesting end user.

[0029] In a particular implementation continuous navigation is provided to end user stations, irrespectively of where the service/application content is located, i.e. whether it is internal or external, through the introduction of metalinks to service/application data in a generic markup language, e.g. XML, to which the portal session id is added as a parameter. For this purpose the portal core comprises (first) translating means for processing such metalinks included in the service/application data. The portal core further comprises rendering means with (second) translating means for transforming the data in the generic markup language into a markup language understood by the requesting end user station, which is mobile or fixed. Continuous navigation as referred to above relates to a particularly advantageous implementation which, with advantage, may be combined with the unified session management as described in the present invention. The provision of continuous navigation by means of introduction of metalinks to the service/application data by the services/applications is described in the copending Swedish application “An arrangement and a method relating to access of applications/services” by the same applicant and filed on the same day as the present invention, and the content of which herewith is incorporated herein by reference.

[0030] Thus, in a most advantageous embodiment the portal structure is mobile, and it supports access by mobile end user stations over a mobile communication network, such as for example GSM (Global System for Mobile communications), WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access), GPRS (GSM General Packet Radio Service), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), Bluetooth (which is a short range radio technology), WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) etc. Advantageously the portal structure supports access by broadband devices such as PCs, or more generally fixed devices, as well as mobile devices such as WAP-devices.

[0031] In other terms the portal structure supports access by fixed as well as mobile end users stations using different access formats or using different markup languages for communication with the portal structure.

[0032] According to one particular embodiment a service or an application may optionally be provided with one or more other metainformation tags in addition to metainformation tags containing external session identification information.

[0033] Although the invention is not limited thereto, if a generic markup language is used, the generic markup language may be XML. The XML-data and possible metalinks are defined in a Document Type Definition language (DTD). A metalink tag in XML-data comprises information about metalink type, a reference and addressing attribute (URL) containing service/application location information. The translating means (of the rendering means) translates XML-data by performing a transformation (XSL), i.e. the XML-data is processed together with a transformation stylesheet (XSL transformation) to produce an output format, i.e. a markup language, appropriate for the accessing end user station, e.g. HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) for a fixed end user station and WML (Wireless Markup Language) for a mobile end user station. XSL is described in XSL Transformations (XSLT) Version 1.0, which is a W3C Recommendation dated Nov. 10, 1999 and XSL Transformations (XSLT) Version 1.1., which is a W3C Working draft, Dec. 12, 2000, which documents herewith are incorporated herein by reference.

[0034] Particularly, at a subsequent access of the same service/application by the same end user in the same session, the stored metainformation containing the external (proprietary) session identification is forwarded from the portal session managing means by the session unifying means to the external service/application (external session managing means), such that the external session as indicated by the external session id can be found.

[0035] The invention also discloses an arrangement in a portal structure comprising a portal core with a presentation arrangement, portal session managing means generating and handling session related information, e.g. session identifications, and storing means for storing session related information. The arrangement further comprises a session unifying arrangement for unifying management of portal sessions and external sessions generated by external session managing means managing external services/applications. The portal session identification (only) is used in communication between the portal and an accessing end user station, and the external session identification information is used in communication between the portal and the external service/application. The unifying means comprises means for mapping between portal session identifications and external session identifications. Advantageously external service/application identification information is stored in the portal storing means in the respective portal session for a defined time period, e.g. throughout a session. The arrangement particularly comprises rendering means for translating service/application data in a generic markup language into other markup languages, depending on the type of a requesting end user station, for rendering a service/application data output to end user stations having requested access to a service/application. Particularly such generic markup language is XML.

[0036] In a preferred embodiment external session identification information is provided in metainformation tags introduced into the external service/application data, and more particularly the metainformation data is stored in the portal session in the portal storing means storing portal session information. The portal session identification is particularly added to the external application/service data as a parameter.

[0037] At a subsequent request to the portal for the same external service/application by an end user during an ongoing session, the metainformation is included into the request by the session unifying means upon forwarding the request to the external service/application, i.e. after mapping/transforming from portal to external session identification.

[0038] The invention also discloses a method of session management in a portal structure when external services/applications, which are externally session-managed, are accessed. The portal structure comprises a portal core with a presentation arrangement, portal session managing means handling session related information and portal storing means for storing session related information. The method includes the steps of; creating a portal session with a portal session identification when an end user requests access to a service/application, unless a portal session already exists; forwarding the request to the requested external service/application; creating, in or for the external service, by external session managing means, an external service/application session, whereby an external service/application session identification is generated unless the session already exists for the requesting end user; whereby, in the service/application the following steps are performed; generating service/application data; introducing information about the external session identification to the service/application data; returning service/application data including the external session identification to the portal; whereby in the portal the following steps are performed: mapping the external session identification onto the portal session identification; storing the external session identification into the portal session in the portal storing means; sending the service/application data to the requesting end user using the portal session identification only.

[0039] The method further includes the steps of; looking up the portal session in the portal storing means at a subsequent request by the end user for the external service/application; establishing if the portal session related information contains an external session identification; if yes, forwarding the request including the external session identification to the requested external service/application; looking up the external proprietary service/application session in the service/application or in external session managing means, using the external session identification; generating service/application data; adding the external session identification to the service/application data; sending the service/application data with the external session identification to the portal session managing means etc. In a preferred implementation the external service/application generates a generic markup language, e.g. XML. Preferably the step of adding external session identification comprises generation of, and introduction of, a metainformation tag containing at least external session identification to the external service/application data.

[0040] The invention also discloses a method of integrating portal session management with the external session management of an externally session-managed system, which comprises the steps of; mapping between portal session identifications and external session identifications; storing information relating to external session identifications in portal storing means in a generated portal session; using the portal session identification in communication with an end user station; using information relating to the external session identification in communication with externally session-managed systems.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0041] The invention will in the following be further described in a non-limiting manner and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0042]FIG. 1 schematically illustrates an overview of a portal structure according to one implementation of the invention,

[0043]FIG. 2 illustrates a conceptual division of the presentation arrangement (layer) into a rendering functional layer and a service functional layer,

[0044]FIG. 3A is a block diagram of a portal through which an end user first requests access to an external application,

[0045]FIG. 3B is a block diagram as in FIG. 3A when the end user again accesses the application during the session,

[0046]FIG. 4 is a flow diagram schematically describing a general implementation of the inventive concept,

[0047]FIG. 5 is a flow diagram describing the flow when an end user accesses a portal requesting access to an external service/application when there is no session,

[0048]FIG. 6 is a flow diagram describing the procedure when an end user subsequently accesses the same application in the same session, and

[0049]FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating the session mapping interactions in the session unification procedure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0050] With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 an exemplary portal structure will be described in a quite detailed manner. Such a portal structure may be used in the implementation of the inventive concept which is described with reference to FIGS. 3-7. It should also be clear that the invention by no means is limited to be implemented on a portal as described in FIGS. 1 and 2, this portion of the description mainly being included for describing some exemplifying underlying concepts and the functioning of one portal structure as such.

[0051]FIG. 1 thus shows one example on a portal structure 10 according to the invention. The portal structure 10 comprises a portal core 1 handling presentation functionalities, subscription and session management functionalities, a number of services and applications 2, comprising for example personal communication services, personal information services and Mobile E-Commerce services. In brief it is not important which kind of services that are provided and the inventive concept is applicable to any kind of service, content and application. When explaining the inventive concept in a more detailed manner (FIGS. 3-7), when an end user requests access to a service or an application, any service or application (or content) is meant and can be seen as conceptually included in the portal structure, although some of the services and applications actually are located outside the portal structure and are provided by any external service provider, which in this document however are denoted external in case they are externally-session managed, i.e. if they are not session managed by the portal session managing means.

[0052] The portal core structure 1 further includes a layer 3 including a number of service enabling means, also called service enablers 31-37, 38A-38D. The service enablers are among other things involved in authentication and basic services such as gateways and IP infrastructure. In this figure some examples on service enablers are given such as unified messaging 31, IP infrastructure 32, AAA-Server 33, notification support 34, charging support 35 and operation and maintenance support 36. Further examples of service enablers are mobile positioning system 37, WAP gateway 38A, SMS-C gateway 38B, multimedia proxy 38C, mobile E-pay 38D etc. It should be clear that some of these service enablers are more or less mandatory, whereas others are optional.

[0053] The portal structure is here also seen as including a connectivity or a (mobile) bearer layer comprising the mobile base stations and switching nodes, such as BTS (Base Transceiver Station), BSC (Base Station Controller), MSC (Mobile Switching Center) nodes etc. Which the nodes are, depends on which mobile network access is provided over, e.g. GSM. For GPRS or UMTS corresponding nodes are included in this layer; for example GGSN (Gateway GPRS Support Node). Whichever is the network, the network is the data bearer for the portal for access of mobile devices such as WAP-devices (Wireless Application Protocol). In FIG. 1 it is supposed that the accessing end user station comprises a WAP-telephone 5.

[0054] One example on such a portal structure is the Ericsson WISE™ Portal.

[0055] Internal applications or services can be seen as applications leveraging the service enablers and connectivity layers to add application specific values to mobile Internet applications of various categories, for example mobile services, personal communications as unified messaging or mail services, and personal information services. The information may be retrieved by the user through searches, but the information may also be provided to the end user by means of the push technology. This is open to end user customization.

[0056] It is advantageously supposed that the portal supports access by mobile end user stations, such as WAP-telephones 5 over a mobile network. Therefore nodes or components of the relevant mobile network have to be provided in mobile network connectivity and data bearer layer. In FIG. 1 a component denoted ISP network, Internet Service Provider network, is disclosed. This is an optional component which may be included or not.

[0057] In the layer comprising the service enablers 3 some types of service enablers are mandatory whereas other are not. Some of the service enablers are as seen as important components for providing mobile Internet functionalities. Some of the service enablers are seen as one part of the interface components between Internet and the mobile network. One component is here denoted IP infrastructure 32. An optional service enabler comprises the notification support 34, which generally is an optional component enabling applications to send out filtered notifications to end users using the SMS (Short Message Service) channel, but it may also be adapted to include other channels supporting WAP technology and 3G (3GPP) technology. Charging support enabler 35 may be provided to allow for flexibly choosing charging events. Another service enabler 36 relates to operation and maintenance support and generally it is a mandatory component. A service enabler WAP gateway 38A is an optional service enabler WAP gateway/proxy forming the access point between the wireless world and the Internet world. It supports mobile clients accessing the WAP gateway/proxy using GSM circuit switched data or WAP over SMS (SMS over MAP (Mobile Application Protocol)). The client uses a WAP enabled browser in the mobile device to connect to the WEB-server where the desired WAP application resides. Another service enabler, mobile positioning system, 37 is an optional component allowing sending the position of a user to the application requesting it. Another service enabler is a multimedia proxy 38C responsible for transmitting multimedia data over GPRS or UMTS. This however is an optional service enabling means. Also SMS-C (centre) gateway 38B is an optional component responsible for sending or receiving, storing and forwarding short messages between mobile stations and servers. Proprietary protocols are used for communication with applications. Mobile E-pay 38D is a component offering the basic functionality for Mobile E-Commerce and it is an optional component. AAA-Server 33 is a service enabling component relating to authentication, authorization and accounting. These functionalities may be provided in other manners but they may also be integrated in a functionality server, for example enabling traffic based charging and period charging. Such a component, either if it is split up into different components or comprises a single component, which is common for a number of functionalities, is mandatory, and in an advantageous implementation it is used for session management functionalities.

[0058] However, it should be clear that FIG. 1 merely shows examples on service enabling means that may be provided in a service enabling layer 3. At least some of the illustrated service enablers may be excluded, still others may be included etc.

[0059] The portal core, or the portal core layer, handles, as referred to above, presentation, subscription and session management and service tiers comprising a number of internal (and external) application servers. The core 1 comprises a presentation arrangement 11 which enables mobile portal presentation on multiple devices using multiple protocols. It may e.g. be XML driven (or more generally driven by a generic markup language).

[0060] In one implementation it is a Java™ and XML driven multimarkup language capable presentation module.

[0061] The presentation arrangement 11 comprises a rendering means (a rendering engine) which in one implementation uses XML/XSLT technologies to ensure that information presented by services within the portal is displayed in a standardized way, regardless of which type of end user station (or browser) an end user uses when accessing the portal structure. Through the use of a generic markup language, for example XML/XSLT, the “look and feel” of content presented to end users may be customized. XSL is an abbreviation for Extensible Style Sheet Language. The Swedish patent application “An arrangement and a method for presentation customization in a portal structure”, which is an application filed on the same date and by the same applicant as the present application, and the content of which herewith is incorporated. herein by reference, relates to user customization in a portal structure as described herein, and particularly it is concerned with “look and feel” customization.

[0062] The functionalities within the portal core 1 and of the presentation arrangement 11 in particular will be further described with reference to FIG. 2.

[0063] The portal core 1 also includes the subscription manager. In one implementation subscription manager component information is stored in an LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) directory and it is managed by a service called subscription manager. The subscription manager includes functions for the operator to create, maintain and delete subscriber information in the subscriber database. It also enables the end user of the system to subscribe to the services in the system. In a particular implementation a self-registration and self-service concept is supported in order to minimize costs by minimizing the workload on a customer care center. Information about available services may also be kept in the directory referred to above, and handled by the subscription manager. As a new service is entered into the directory, it will immediately be available for subscription by the end users. In the directory end users can be grouped so as to make new services available only to defined sets of end users. The subscription manager 12 can be interfaced with an existing customer care system through the application programming interface (API) it uses.

[0064] The session manager 13 is a general mechanism that can be used by applications and services. It comprises an interface to a subsystem for keeping track of all visitors to the portal and to provide the profile information of the visitors. When an end user enters the system/application, a session id entity is allocated and it is stored for that particular end user until logging out of the service or when the end user has been idle for a preset period of time. When a participating application starts, it first checks if there is an active session id for a particular user and if there is one, it would be able to resume from where the session was broken. The session management functionalities according to the inventive concept will be described below with reference to FIGS. 3A-7.

[0065] Finally, the portal core structure 1 here comprises two “internal” application servers 14A, 14B and one or more external application server 14C. The external application server 14C contains links to external application servers running existing services. In one implementation the service tier comprises three classes of services, of which a first is developed in compliance with the portal core specifications implemented using the portal core environment. A second service class relates to services which not necessarily are implemented in the portal core environment, such as for example an external e-mail system running on a non-portal core environment adapted to present itself through the portal core presentation. The third service class relates to external services which do not comply with the portal core service development or presentation architectures. This will be further explained with reference to FIG. 2.

[0066] In the following the portal core, and specifically the presentation arrangement, comprised in the presentation layer, will be more thoroughly described, first with a general reference to FIG. 2.

[0067] The service tier in one advantageous implementation comprises three service classes. The service class portal core service (pcoreservice) complies with the specifications of the portal core and it is used to leverage the portal core characteristics. In one implementation the services are implemented using the J2EE IBM WEBSphere Environment (an application server used to develop programmatic services involving logic, algorithms etc.). Such services generally have three or four tier architectures deploying JSP (Java Server Pages) on the front end, Java servlets and Enterprise Java Beans (EJB) in the middle layer and various entities on the back end. The second service class are the integrated portal core services (integrated pcore services) which leverage pcore presentation services but which are not necessarily implemented in the portal core J2EE environment, e.g. an external e-mail system running on a non-portal core environment, but adapted to present itself through the portal core presentation. The third service class, pcore external services, neither complies with the portal core service development nor with the presentation architectures but the services included in this class may e.g. be triggered to the portal core.

[0068] In one implementation there are two types of service options available within the service layer. One may consist of services provided by Broadvision (CORBA) for creating optimized rule based and personalized services connected to commerce and retail, and optimized for content delivery by a matching engine operating on content, profile and business rules. The other service type relates to programmatic services for example requiring algorithms, logic etc. which are not easily built in an optimized content delivery system. If these services are of pcore service class, then they may be industrialized for IBM WEBSphere J2EE environment and if they are of integrated services class and running in an external service server, they are adapted to the portal core presentation.

[0069] A service needs specifications including elements on the rendering functionality of the presentation layer as well as relating to the service layer functionality, i.e. schemes and logic. The portal core presentation architecture may, as referred to above, in one advantageous embodiment implement the J2EE architecture for the mechanisms of creating and employing services in specific elements or for defining services. However, the invention is not limited to a portal structure using J2EE and Broadvision which merely are given as examples.

[0070] The presentation layer is conceptually split-up into two tiers, one rendering layer residing in the portal core itself and a service layer available to any service that wants to present its content through the portal core presentation structure. The rendering layer in one advantageous implementation uses XML/XSLT technologies. Thereby it is also ensured that information presented by services within the portal can be displayed in a standardized way irrespectively of which is the end user station, i.e. irrespectively of which kind of end user station the end user uses when accessing the portal. Through the use of XML/XSLT it can be assured that a unified “look and feel” of content is presented within the presentation space.

[0071] If XML is used as a generic markup language, a service produces an output in the form of an XML document formatted using structure information from a pcore DTD. The XML output from the service is then used to feed the presentation engine of the presentation arrangement. The presentation engine uses pcore SS and pcore grid information associated with the pcore DTD of the XML document supplied by the service to generate the desired interface. Services which do not produce XML from a pcore DTD are particularly also able to present themselves through the presentation services.

[0072] As referred to earlier, the portal structure is advantageously able to handle different devices such as WAP-phones and broadband devices such as PCs, or the browser used thereby. A portal core structure platform and the logic in it are particularly totally separated from the presentation layer functionality, which makes it very easy to implement support for all different types of clients, even voice and speech synthesizers. By using for example XML/XSL, it is very easy to implement support for instance for a new type of WAP-display size. It is also possible to adapt the rendering process to various WEB-devices, existing and future hand-held devices, voice browsing and interactive TV.

[0073] In one particular implementation the WEB-interface is composed of square elements also denoted bricks. A brick is a container of a service, a picture or an application, displayed on the screen of the end user station. Using such bricks or containers, it is possible to customize the portal. A brick is thus an application created to be used inside the portal structure, which has a link to the application. The application has to provide display information to the portal when it wishes to render the brick. Advantageously a brick can appear in more than one format. The disposition of the bricks or containers represent a so called brick interface. In order to enable easy navigation, the WAP-interface may in one implementation be structured in the same way. In the WEB-interface the user is presented with a list of available bricks. Each brick contains an application, service or a background picture that can be included in the user's built WEB-site. A brick can also be a pre-configured service from an external company or provider. A Brick-grid is a non-visual representation of a customized portal. Depending on device, the brick grid is represented in a way that is most suitable for the device in use. The grid can be designed in many ways as well as the way the bricks are presented and organized, for example with tags. The brick grid is stored in a generic format and it is device/end user station independent.

[0074] Preferably the end user authenticates himself towards the portal with a one time login which will give the end user access to all the functionality within the portal. Any authentication towards connected or to external content or service providers is handled by the platform security system. Advantageously each application or service within the portal can be personalized to fit the needs of the end user and each application can be personalized for different devices. This is particularly advantageous when an end user wants to limit the amount of data sent to another end user station with limited capacity to present larger amounts of data, e.g. a WAP-phone. It is possible to select one application more than once and to give each of the different instances its own personalization.

[0075] Above one example on a portal structure has been described in which the inventive concept can be implemented. However, the invention as such is of course not limited to be implemented in such a portal but it is based on the assumption that a portal structure is provided which is able to provide end users, i.e. entities accessing the portal, with access to services/applications. For each end user a session is created by the portal and each session contains end user specific data. A service/application may be external or internal. In this context an internal application or service is defined as an application or service using the session management of the portal, whereas an external application or service is defined as an application or service using an external session management, which means that it may provide for the session management itself, or it may be session-managed by a third party.

[0076] The inventive concept will in the following be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 3A-6.

[0077]FIGS. 3A, 3B show an implementation in which it is supposed that the portal structure supports access by mobile as well as fixed end user stations. In an advantageous implementation access to the portal structure itself, for different types of end user stations, is enabled even if the types are not known by the portal structure. This may be carried out as described in the Swedish patent application “Arrangement and method relating to end user stations accessing a portal”, filed on the same date and by the same applicant as the present application, and the content of which herewith is incorporated herein by reference.

[0078]FIG. 3A is a schematical illustration of an end user station 5, which here is a WAP-device accessing the portal core 1 of a portal structure to get access to an external application 26. In the portal core only the means that are of interest for the functioning of the present invention are illustrated, namely presentation arrangement 11 with rendering means 15, request broker 16, portal session managing means 13, session unifying means 50 and portal session storing means 51.

[0079] If the end user station 5 wants access to an external application 26, a request (I₀) is provided to the session unifier 50, and, as it is the first transaction of the connection, i.e. there is no session available for end user 5 relating to the external application 26, a session is created by portal session manager 13, which receives the request (II₀) from the session unifier 50. The session contains user specific data and it is stored into the portal storing means 51. A portal session identification, or briefly a portal session id, is created. The session unifier 50 also forwards the request (III₀) to the request broker 16, which passes it on to the external application 26, (IV₀). The external application detects that there is no (external) session for the requesting user, generates data (e.g. XML), creates an external session with an external session id, and introduces the external session id as a metainformation tag to the (XML) data, which subsequently is sent as a reply to the portal request broker 16 (V₀) containing the metainformation tag. The data with the metainformation tag is passed on to the rendering means 15, (VI₀), which detects the metainformation tag and passes it on to the session unifier 50, which transforms it to the portal session id which then is returned to the rendering means, (VII₀). In the rendering process the portal session id is written into the reply data which is passed on to the request broker 16 (IX₀) for sending it on to the end user station 5.

[0080] In FIG. 3B it is supposed that a session already does exist and end user station 5 again tries to access application 26 in the same session, (I). The session unifier 50 retrieves the user portal session from the portal session manager 13 (portal storing means) (II). The session unifier 50 retrieves service/application data for the service/application to be accessed, e.g. the external (backend) session id, (III). The external session id is then passed on to the request broker 16 (IV), which calls the external application 26, (V). The application generates data (e.g. XML) which includes the external session id in the metainformation tag and sends it to the portal, (VI). The request broker forwards the data to the rendering means 15 for rendering (VII). The rendering means 15 communicates with the session unifier 50, which maps the external session id onto the portal session id and returns the latter to the rendering means 15, (VIII). The rendering means then writes the portal session id into the reply intended for the end user station 5, (IV). Via the request broker the reply is sent to the end user station 5 (X).

[0081] For access of an internal application the portal session id is used both for communication between the portal and the internal application and for communication between the end user station and the portal core.

[0082] If the application generates a generic markup language, e.g. XML, the XML data is also translated in the rendering means 15 and rendered and output to the end user station 5 in the markup language understandable to the end user station, e.g. HTML if it is a PC and WML if it is a WAP-device.

[0083] This means that, for communication between the end user station and the portal, only the portal session id is used once assigned whereas, between the portal and an external application, only the external application session id is used, once generated.

[0084] In a portal structure implementing to the inventive concept a session management unification framework consisting of the session unifier is provided. The session unifier provides a generic one-to-many session mapping mechanism, i.e. if there are a plurality of external systems (applications, services, portals) having their own session management, the session unifier is able to transform portal sessions to the sessions of external systems and vice versa.

[0085] The procedure will be described in general terms with reference to the flow diagram of FIG. 4. It is thus supposed that a request for an application, here denoted C, is received in the portal structure from end user U, 100. The portal checks if there is a session available in the storing means for end user U relating to application C, 101. If not, a portal session is created which is assigned a portal session id, 102. It is established whether application C is externally session-managed, 103. If not, the application will use the portal session id in communication with application C and with end user U, 104, and there is no need of unification of sessions. If, however, application C is externally session-managed, the request is forwarded to application C, 106 (of course also if the application is internally session-managed, i.e. uses the portal session management, the request is forwarded to the application etc., but this is not relevant for the inventive concept and will therefore not be further discussed herein) . In application C (or more generally the external system), it is examined if there is a session available for end user U, 107. If not, an external application proprietary session with an external session id, also denoted an external (application) id is generated, 108. Application data is generated which is provided with information on the external session id. A response containing the application data and the information about external session id is sent to the portal, 109.

[0086] When the reply is received within the portal, the external session id information is stored in the portal session created for end user U for application C, which portal session is stored in the portal session storing means, 110. Subsequently, for further communication between the end user and the portal, the portal session id is used. Information on the external session id is included in communication with application C, 111.

[0087] If in step 101 above it was established to that there was a session available in the storing means, for an external application the information about the external session id, is particularly found, 105. Then the portal session id is used in communication between the end user and the portal, whereas the external session id is used for communication between the portal and the application as referred to above, 111. If however there was no information stored about an external session id in the portal session stored in the portal storing means, 105, it may indicate that the application is internal and the portal session id is used in communication both with application C and with end user U.

[0088] Step 103 above may give the impression that there has to be a separate detection as to whether an application is external. This may however be inherently detected, for an already existing session, when the portal session is fetched by the session unifying means from the portal storing means via the portal session managing means. For a new session it may be detected as the response is received from the application which then contains a metainformation tag with the external session id, particularly by the rendering means.

[0089]FIG. 5 is a flow diagram describing somewhat more in detail, for a particular embodiment, the procedure when a request from an end user Ul is received in the portal relating to an external application A for the first time, i.e. there is no session, 200. The portal session managing means detects that there is no session for U1 relating to application A, 201. The portal then creates a session for end user Ul and application A with a portal session id, 202. Subsequently the request is forwarded to application A, 203. Application A detects that there is no session for U1, 204. Application A then creates a proprietary external session for U1 and a metainformation tag with at least an external session id, i.e. with the identity of the created session, 205. The application also generates application data, in this embodiment in XML, and sends the application data with the metainformation tag to the portal core, 206. Thus, in the XML data there is a metainformation tag containing the application session id. It may for example look like:

[0090] <metainfo name=“application_session_id” value=“4711” />

[0091] The portal session unifying means maps the external session id onto the portal session id for U1, 207. The portal session managing means stores the metainformation data, particularly all metainformation data if, in an advantageous implementation, not only metainformation relating to the session id is included, but also other data, into the portal session, 208. In one implementation the application data also contains metalinks referring to other services/applications which may be processed and translated by translating means, as further discussed in the copending patent application “An Arrangement and A Method Relating to Access of Applications/Services”, and the session id of the portal is added as a parameter.

[0092] The rendering means of the portal core renders the application data, i.e. translates it into a format appropriate for the end user station, and sends it to end user U1 using only the portal session id, 209.

[0093]FIG. 6 is a flow diagram describing the procedure when end user U1 tries to access applications A once again during the same session. Thus it is supposed that a subsequent request for application A is received in the portal from U1, 210. This means for example that the end user U1 clicks on a link in his browser to application A which link has a parameter to the portal session id. Via the session unifier the portal session managing means looks up the portal session for U1 using the portal session id, 211. It is detected that there is metainformation contained in the portal session for U1, 212, relating to application A. The portal request broker contacts the application and includes the metainformation as parameters and forwards the request to application A, 213. The metainformation comprises the external session id, which thus will be sent to the application, i.e. used in communication with application A. Application A uses its external session id as included in the metainformation to look up the external session for the end user U1, 214. The application creates application (XML) data, includes the metainformation tag into the XML data and sends XML data with the metainformation tag to the portal, 215. Then the flow proceeds as in steps 207, 208 of FIG. 5 (216) etc.

[0094] According to one implementation the external application, or more generally the external system, also denoted the backend system, provides the following operations in order to make the session unifying means (session unifier) functional:

[0095] 1. BackendSession bs=backend,createSession( )

[0096] 2. Bs.updateSession( )

[0097] 3. Stream s=backend.serializeSession(BackenSession bs)

[0098] The session unifier implements the following operations:

[0099] 1. PortalSession ps=Portal.getSession( )

[0100] 2. BackendSession bs=Ps.getBackendSession(backendService)

[0101] 3. ps.callBackendService(backendService), bs)

[0102] 4. ps.storeBackendSession(backendSersvice, bs)

[0103] The session unification procedure thus functions as follows according to this implementation:

[0104] 1. The unifier calls ps.getSession ( ) to retrieve the portal session associated with the request/call for the service/application.

[0105] 2. The unifier calls bs=ps.getBackendSession(backendService)

[0106] 3. The unifier calls ps.callBackendService(backendService, bs)

[0107] 4. If there is no backend session for the user(bs=0), the backend calls bs=backend,createSession( ) and sends this session along with the reply to the portal. Otherwise, the backend calls bs.updateSession( ), and sends this along with the reply to the portal. Sending the backend session is accomplished by calling backend.serializeSession(bs).

[0108] 5. The portal stores the backend session by calling ps.storeBackendSession(backendService, bs)

[0109]FIG. 7 is an interaction diagram describing the steps of the session unification procedure described above.

[0110] P.getSession( ) can be implemented by any session management system following e.g. the Servlet Session API.

[0111] P.getBackendSession(backendService) can be implemented by creating a namespace within the portal session for each backendService accessed, and storing, within the namespace, the backendService related data.

[0112] To reduce the bandwidth requirements, B.serialiseSession( ) can be implemented by sending only an identifier of the session from the backend system.

[0113] It is an advantage of the invention that through provision of session unification, a seamless integration of different session management systems into one unified session management is enabled. For portal structures this may considerably reduce the integration time between portal and external application service providers. Particularly for mobile portals, supporting access also by mobile stations, such unifying of session management provides a powerful means to reduce the amount of data that has to be sent to wireless end user stations through converting lengthy backend-session data into short unified sessions. Access by mobile end user stations, such as WAP-devices, to externally session managed systems might otherwise not even be possible due to the large amount of data that has to be transferred in case both a portal session id and an external session id have to be included in communication with the end user station, since such amounts of data may be unacceptable for a mobile end user station. Even if an end user station is able to handle such amounts of data only for identification purposes, it is a waste of resources and time.

[0114] It should be clear that the invention is not limited to the specifically illustrated embodiments but that it can be varied in a number of ways within the scope of the appended claims. 

1. A portal structure providing end user stations with access to services/applications, comprising a portal core, (service enabling means, connectivity means via which end user access is provided) and a number of services/applications, said portal core comprising a presentation arrangement, portal session managing means generating session related information, e.g. session identifications, portal storing means for storing session related information (and subscriber managing means), wherein at least some of the services/applications comprise external services/applications, or are provided by external systems, implementing external session managing means generating external session identifications, characterized in that the portal structure further comprises session unifying means for mapping between portal session identifications and external session identifications and in that for communication between the portal core and external services/applications the external service/application external identification is used as session identification, whereas, in communication between an end user station and the portal core, only the portal session identification is used as session identification.
 2. A portal structure according to claim 1, characterized in that the services/applications generate a generic markup language.
 3. A portal structure according to claim 2, characterized in that the generic markup language is XML.
 4. A portal structure according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that external service/application proprietary external session identification information for all external services/ applications active in a session is stored in the corresponding portal session in the portal storing means for a defined time period, e.g. throughout the duration of the respective session.
 5. A portal structure at least according to claim 2, characterized in that the presentation arrangement comprises rendering means for translating service/ application data in the generic markup language into a different markup language used by an end user station.
 6. A portal service according to claim 5, characterized in that it is mobile, i.e. it supports access by mobile end user stations, e.g. WAP-devices, in addition to fixed end user stations.
 7. A portal structure at least according to claim 2, characterized in that data representing services/applications in the generic markup language are defined in a Document Type Definition (DTD) language with an URL-attribute.
 8. A portal structure according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that an external system with an external proprietary session managing means comprises another portal.
 9. A portal structure according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the portal session managing means operate according to the servlet session API or the session EJB:s specifications defining basic session management operations.
 10. A portal structure according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the portal session managing means stores information relating to end user initiated actions such as end user entering the portal, end user authentication, end user access of a service/application etc. into the portal storing means.
 11. A portal structure according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that upon reception of an end user request for a service/application, a portal session with a session identification is created by the portal session managing means, and when the request is forwarded to the service/application the service/application uses the portal session identification information if it is an internal service/ application whereas the service/application is provided with an external (proprietary) session identification if it is managed by an external session managing means.
 12. A portal structure according to claim 11, characterized in that for a service/application managed by external session managing means, the external session managing means stores the external, session identification information generated for a requesting end user for a defined time period, e.g. throughout the duration of the session, and in that when a subsequent call request is received from the portal during the session, service application data is generated and a reply is returned to the portal core comprising the service/application data and the external session identification, by the unifying means is converted/mapped to the portal session identification such that the service/application data can be forwarded to the end user by using the portal session identification only.
 13. A portal structure according to claim 12, characterized in that a namespace is created within the portal session for each accessed service/application and in that the external session information data at least including external session identification is stored within the namespace.
 14. A portal structure according to claim 2, 11 or 12, characterized in that an external service/application creates an external proprietary session with an external service/application external (proprietary) id for an end user requesting access to the external service/application via the portal and introduces a metainformation tag containing at least the external (proprietary) session identification into the service/ application data in the generic markup language, to be returned to the portal core.
 15. A portal structure according to claim 14, characterized in that all data of the metainformation tag is stored in the corresponding portal session for the requesting end user.
 16. A portal structure according to claim 15, characterized in that the portal core comprises first translating means for processing possible metalinks included in the service/ application data in the generic markup language to which the portal session identification is added as a parameter and in that the portal core further comprises rendering means with second translating means for transforming the data in the generic markup language to a markup language understandable by the requesting end user station.
 17. A portal structure according to claim 16, characterized in that for a subsequent access of the same service/application by the same end user in the same session, the stored metainformation containing the external session identification is forwarded from the portal session unifying means) to the external service/application such that the external service/application is able to find the external session as indicated by the external, session identification.
 18. An arrangement in a portal structure comprising a portal core with a presentation arrangement, portal session managing means generating session related information, at least portal session identifications and portal storing means for storing portal session related information, characterized in that it comprises session unifying means for unifying management of portal sessions and external sessions generated by external session managing means managing external services/applications, that only the portal session identification is used in communication between the portal and an accessing end user station and in that the external session identification is used in communication between the portal core and the external service/application, and in that the unifying means are used for mapping/transforming between portal session identifications and external, session identifications of external services/applications.
 19. An arrangement according to claim 18, characterized in that external service/application proprietary, external session identification information is stored in the portal session to which it is mapped for a defined time period, e.g. throughout a session.
 20. An arrangement according to claim 18, characterized in that the presentation arrangement comprises rendering means for translating service/application data in a generic markup language into other markup languages depending on the type of a requesting end user station for rendering service/application data output to end user stations having requested access to a(n) service/application into a markup language understandable by the end user station.
 21. An arrangement according to claim 20, characterized in that the generic markup language is XML.
 22. An arrangement according to any one of claims 18-21, characterized in that external session identification information is provided in a metainformation tag introduced into the external service/ application data and in that the metainformation data is stored in the corresponding portal session in the portal storing means storing portal session-information, and in that the portal session identification is added to the external application/ service data as a parameter in communication with the end user station, replacing the external session identification.
 23. An arrangement according to claim 22, characterized in that for a subsequent request to the portal for the same external service/application by an end user during a session, the metainformation is included into the request when forwarded from the portal core to the external service/ application.
 24. A method of session management in a portal structure comprising a portal core comprising a presentation arrangement, portal session managing means handling session related information and portal storing means for storing session related information, comprising the steps of: creating a portal session with a portal session identification when an end user requests access to a service/ application, unless a portal session already exists; forwarding the request to the requested external service/ application if the requested service/application is externally session managed; creating in the external session managing means an external service/application proprietary session identification for the requesting end user unless a session already exists; generating service/application data in the service/ application; introducing information about the external session identification into the service/application data; returning service/application data including external session identification to the portal; mapping the external session identification to the portal session identification; storing the external session identification in the corresponding portal session means; sending the service/application data to the requesting end user using only the portal session identification.
 25. A method according to claim 24, characterized in that it comprises the steps of: in the portal: looking up the portal session in the storing means at a subsequent request by an end user for an external service/ application during the session; establishing if the portal session related information contains an external session identification, if yes; forwarding the request including the external session identification to the requested external service/application; in the external session managing means or in the external service/application: looking up the external service/application session; generating service/application data; adding the external session identification to the service/ application data; returning the service/application data with the external session identification to the portal session managing means; in the portal: replacing the external session identification by the corresponding portal session identification; sending the service/application data to the end user station using the portal session identification only.
 26. A method according to claim 24 or 25, characterized in that the external service/application generates a generic markup language, e.g. XML.
 27. A method according to claim 26, characterized in that the step of adding external session identification comprises generation of and introduction of a metainformation tag containing at least external session identification to the service/application data. 